Dr. Ed Young Sr. Chair of Preaching Installed at SEBTS

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Ed Young Chair PhotoSoutheastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS) enjoyed a morning of joyful celebration with the installation of the Dr. Ed Young Sr. Chair of Preaching.

Young serves as the senior pastor of Second Baptist Church, Houston, Texas, the largest church in the Southern Baptist Convention. His church continues to grow and currently has over 63,000 members. Young is a former President of the Southern Baptist Convention and graduate of SEBTS.

The events were held on Oct. 15 on Southeastern’s campus in Binkely Chapel and the Ledford Center.

Young attended Southeastern during a liberal period of the seminary, yet held true to his conservative theology. “Many of you would not be here today or you would not want to be here if it were not for Ed Young Sr.,” Akin said.

This is the fifth endowed chair at SEBTS and the second one in preaching. The installation was held at Southeastern’s chapel service with Young as the guest speaker.

As Young preached from Nehemiah, he focused on five essential leadership qualities of a great leader: having a vision, giving away the vision, discernment, tenacity and integrity.

Young stressed the value in wisely organizing the church team. “Assign people according to their giftedness,” Young said. “The right person, the right time and the right task.”

“God has entrusted you and me with a calling to bring this world Jesus Christ,” Young said. “The answer for every problem on this earth … is one simple thing, it’s the bending of the knee for Jesus Christ.”

After Young’s sermon, Akin presented the President’s Award to Second Baptist Church. This is the highest honor awarded by Southeastern.

As a part of the ceremony, Akin was installed as the new chair, a selection made by the SEBTS Board of Trustees. He expressed his appreciation for the honor to continue to serve the seminary through teaching preaching.

An Ed Young Chair Installation luncheon was held after the service with his family and church leadership as well as SEBTS faculty and the Board of Visitors and Trustees. The event featured an interview of Young with Akin.

Young shared about becoming a Christian, his family and educational background. “I became a Christian in vacation Bible school,” Young said.

When asked about preaching, Young shared about his own personal style. “I spend a lot of time by myself,” Young said. “I think if you are going to be a preacher in this world you better spend a lot of time by yourself with God and with your books. … I spend more time preparing me than the sermon.”

“I think preaching should have an element of surprise and warmth,” he said. “It is a wonderful adventure. I don’t have it mastered, but we spend a lot of blood, sweat and tears in preparation.”

His concern for the church today is centered on the need for sharing the Gospel. “SBC churches are pastored by functional universalists,” he said. “They know all theological principles, they are inerrantists; they can pound the Bible all day, but they haven’t figured out how to take the truth of God and turn it into evangelism and see lives change.”

In conclusion, Young focused on the importance of a sermon application, “When you get through all of your fancy homiletics you have you ask yourself one question, ‘so what?’”

To learn more about endowing a chair or professorship at Southeastern, supporting the Dr. Ed Young Sr. Chair of Preaching or joining the Board of Visitors, please contact Daniel Palmer, director of Financial Development at [email protected], (866) 917-3287 or www.sebts.edu/give.

To view photos from the Installation of the Dr. Ed Young Sr. Chair of Preaching please click here.

To listen or watch the sermon of Dr. Ed Young Sr. sermon, please click here.

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